Support for sliding shelves



March 6, 1962 R. A. scHLEss, JR

SUPPORT FOR SLIDING SHELVES 2 Sheets-Shee'h 1 Filed Jan. 24, 1957 March 6, 1962 R, A. scHLEss, JR 3,023910 SUPPORT FOR sLIDING SHELVES Filed Jan. 24, 1957 2 Shee'S-Shee ooo 46% 00 O00 w 0047 Goo 66 g 'm L O00 w 4a 1/7 ooo Oo m ooo OO OOO IN VEN TOR.

W BY A TTOR NE YS 3,023,910 SUPPORT FOR SLIDlNG SHELVES Robert A. Schless, Jr., Stray Winds, Elizabethtown, N.Y.; Shirley E. Schless and William R. La Flure, executors of said Robert A. Schless, Jr., deceased Filed Jan. 24, 1957, Ser. No. 636,087 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-143) Ths invention relates to furniture and more especially to constructions that are more economical for either portable or built-in furniture. More particularly, the invention relates to a modular construction, for drawer slides and drawers, which makes possible the interchangeable use of different size drawers with the same slide structure.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved furniture construction for drawers and more especially for modular drawers and slides. Another object is to provide a plastic construction for the drawers and slides with some resilience whereby the parts are prevented from ever binding or jamming, and whereby it becomes practical to make the parts with greater manufacturing tolerances.

It is another object of the invention to provide a furniture component consisting of a panel of sheet material with some areas thereof displaced to provide surfaces that serve as drawer slides when similar panels are used as liners of a drawer cabinet or are attached to confronting walls in a recessed space of a room where built-in drawers are desired. The dsplaced areas may form ornamental designs. These furniture components are preferably plastic and of a construction that permits manufacture by vacuum forming. There is a symmetry by which a panel can be used on either the right or left side of the space within which the drawers are to be located.

Another feature of the invention relates to the construction of the drawers, and includes drawer contours that nroduce a strong drawer from relatively thin thermoplastic material, and a drawer that can be made economically by vacuum forming. Modular construction makes drawers of different size interchangeable in the space between the supporting slide panels.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

FIGURE l is an exploded view showing the drawers and panels of this invention, and illustrating .the way in which the panels are 1tocated with respect to confronting walls of a room for making built-in furniture;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view showing two modular drawers of diiferent size lin assembled relation with one of the slide panels;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary elevation of a slide panel with discontnuous slide surfaces;

FEGURE 4 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation of a modified form of slide panel with the displaced areas shaped and correlated to produce ornamental designs;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary elevation showing another modified form of slide panel;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view of one of the drawers similar to those shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 but constructed with a step for nesting;

FIGURES 10 and 11 are sectional views taken on the States atent G 3,023,9l Patented Mar. 6, 1962 2 lines 10-10 and 11-11, respectively, of FIGURE v9; and

FIGURE 12 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken ,on the line 12-12 of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 1 shows two panels 11 and 12, made of sheet material, preferably thermo-plastic material. These panels 11 and 12 can be attached to confronting surfaces on the side walls of a cabinet or they can be attached to confronting walls in a recess of a room when used for making built-in furniture. FIGURE 1 shows the panel 11 located in front of a low partition wall 14 at one end of a built-in seat 16; and the panel 12 is shown in front of a wall 18 of the room.

The walls 14 and 18 are parallel to one another and when the panels 11 and 12 are attached to the confronting surfaces of these walls, preferably by adhesive, drawers 21, 22 and 23 are inserted between the panels and are supported by drawer slide surfaces 25 eXtending outwardly at an angle to the Vertical surfaces of the panels 11 and 12, and preferably normal to these Vertical surfaces.

While the built-in seat 16 and its end partition 14 are constructed for the purpose of providing a support for the panel 11, it will be understood that houses can be designed with recessed parts of a room having the confronting side walls of the recesses spaced by the required distance for accommodating built-in drawers. The panels 11 and 12 have their slide surfaces at modular spacing so that several panels can be used one above the other upwardly along the wall to provide a high group of drawers, and panels can be cut along horizontal lines at proper spacing from the modular slide surfaces for accommodating groups of drawers which are not even multiples of the standard sized panels. This invention, therefore, provides architects with eflicient and economical components for built-in drawers in new and remodeled houses.

It will be evident that the panels 11 and 12 can be attached as liners within a cabinet in substantially the same way as they are attached to confronting walls in a room. It will also be evident that the panels 11 and 12 can be used as the side walls of a cabinet when making portable furniture, it merely being necessary that the panels be connected to suitable edge bracing or connections whereby they are secured to the top, back, or other parts of portable furniture in which they are included.

FIGURE 2 shows a sectional view through the upper part of the panel 11. The modular distance between successive slide surfaces 25 is indicated by the dimension arrow 27. The uppermost slide surface 25 is spaced from the top of the panel by a distance of -one-half module. The surfaces 25 are on projections formed by displacing areas of the Sheet material from which the panel 11 is made.

In the preferred construction, the panel 11 is imperforate and made of thermo-plastic material with projections of such shape as can be made by vacuum forming. For greater strength, the projections 28 are of generally triangular cross section in a Vertical plane, as shown clearly in FIGURE 2. These projections 28 may be continuous in a horizontal direction, but they are preferably of relatively short horizontal length so as to provide a discontnuous slide surface 25, as shown in FIGURE 3. This discontnuous surface has several advantages. One is greater strength and another is reduced friction with the drawers. There are preferably retaining guide projections '30 located just above the slide surfaces 25. These projections 30 are areas displaced from the sheet '14 in the same way as the other projections 28, but they need not be discontnuous because they support no weight and seldom entail any consideration of friction.

Referring again to FIGURE 2, the upper drawer 22 is made of a single Sheet of plastic material shaped to provide vide ornamental designs.

a bottom 31, a side wall 32, a top lip 33, a downwardly extending portion 34 beyond the top edge, and a ridge 35 extending outwardly across the slide surface 25 of the panel 11, and under the retaining guide projection 30.

T he drawer 22 is the minimum heght of drawer for the modular construction of the panel 11. The height of the drawer 22 is equal to one module; and the bottomV of the ridge 35 is located below the top of the lip 33 by a distance of one module.

The lower drawer 23 is of similar construction to the drawer 22 with the exception that it has a side wall 32' which is higher than the side wall 32 of the upper drawer 22. The drawer 23 has a height equal to two modules, but its ridge 35 is located at the same distance below the lip 33 as in the case of the shallower drawer 22; and all drawers used with the panel 11 have their ridges 35 located at the same distance below the top lip of the drawer. It will be evident that the drawer 23 can be used interchangeably with the drawer 22 as the upper drawer. The only limitation on the drawer sides is that the sum of the sides of all the drawers of the group must be equal to the height of the panels which provide the slide surfaces 25. Within this limitation, the group of drawers can include more or fewer drawers, as desired; and larger drawers can be substituted in place of smaller drawers, and vice versa.

At both ends of'each row of projections 28 there are other projections 38 which are differently shaped to serve as stops for the drawers as well as portions of the discontinuous drawer slides. These stops prevent the drawers from being pushed in too far and thus maintain the front surface of the drawers, when closed, along a common plane. Although the stops 38 at the rearward end of the panel does not perforrn any stop function, they are provided so as to obtain symmetry which permits the same panel to be used at either the right-hand or left-hand side of a group of drawers.

With either built in or portable furniture, any cover over the top drawer can be made to end flush with the plane of the fronts of the drawers, or back from or extending beyond said plane as desired.

When the slide panels are to be used as the side walls of a piece of portable furniture, it may be desirable to vhave the displaced areas shaped and related so as to pro- FIGURE shows a panel 41 with ornamental designs. This panel has an edge region 42 which may be considered as the plane of the original sheet from which the panel is made. A continuous border 43 is displaced outwardly around the entire perimeter of the panel adjacent to the edge region 42. Within the outline provided by the border 43, there is a field 44 from which areas of the sheet are displaced inwardly to form projections 46, 47 and 48. These projections are located in groups, as shown in FIGURE 5, and the projections in each group are spaced from one another, preferably in both Vertical and horizontal directions. The upper surfaces of the lower projections 46 across the upper part of the field 44 provide discontinuous slide surfaces at the level indicated by the line 51. The top edges of the upper projections 47 also provide part of the slide surface at the level of the line 51. The upper surfaces of the lower projections 47 and 48 provide discontinuous slide surfaces at the level indicated by the line 52.

Similarly. surfaces of others of the projections 46. 47 and 48 provide discontinuous slide surfaces at levels indicated by the lines 53` 54 and 55. These lines are equally spaced and the panel 41 retains the modular feature of the panels previously described. If the panel 41 is turned upside down. discontinuous slide surfaces are provided at substantially the same lines 51-55, as will be evident from the groupings of the projections 46, 47 and 48. For each level of slide surfaces there are projections 46, 47 or 48 located above the slide surfaces to provide restraining guide projections for preventing the drawers from lifting or tilting upwardly away from their supporting slide surfaces.

If the panel 41 is turned on its side, then discontinuous slide surfaces are provided for the drawers at the spacings indicated by the lines 61, 62, 63 and 64. Since the panel 41 is not square, it Will be evident that the same panel can be used at a location requiring a height of five' modules or a height of four modules by merely turning the panel. It will be evident that other panels can be constructed having an desired ratio of modules in the different directions.

FIGURES 7 and 8 show another panel 66 having groups of projections 68 alternating with larger projections 69, to form an ornamented surface. The levels of the different discontinuous slide surfaces provided by these projections are indicated by lines 51-55 and 61-64, as in the case of FIGURES 5 and 6.

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view of a drawer which is similar to the drawer 21 except that it has an offset or step 71 in its side wall for nesting one drawer into another for shipment. Parts of the drawer corresponding to the drawer 21 of FIGURES l and 2 are indicated by the same reference characters with a prime appended. The offset or step 71 is at the level of the bottom surface of the ridge 35'. This drawer has a back wall 73 and a front wall 75. The lip 33' is preferably continuous around the entire periphery of the drawer. Along the front wall 75, the lip 33' fiares outwardly across a porton of the width of the drawer to provide a handle or pull 78. In order to stiffen the bottom 31', there are ribs 79 formed in the Sheet material of which the drawer is made.

In order to obtain a decorative effect, a Wood filler 81 is inserted between the drawer front 75 and the downwardly extending portion of the lip 33'. This wood filler may be attached to the drawer by adhesive but, experience has shown that adhesive is not necessary if the filler 81 fits snugly into the space between the drawer front 75 and the downwardly extending portion of the lip 33'.

The front face of the wood filler 81, or at least the portion which is visible below the lip 33', is preferably made of wood having attractive grain and is stained and varnished to harmonize with the other furniture or Woodwork of the room. The Wood filler 81 is of a size to reach the bottom level of the drawer so that when a group of drawers are in closed positions, the bottom of each Wood filler 81 reaches substantially to the top of the lip 33' of the next drawer below with merely the clearance necessary to prevent contact of the drawers with one another.

The preferred embodiment of the invention and some modifications have been illustrated and described, but `changes and modications can be made and some features used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A furniture component comprising a plastic panel having a plane outside surfacewith a plurality of depressions therein, said depressions constituting projections protruding from the inside surface of the panel and some of which are spaced from one another along a horizontal line and comprise a discontinuous surface for supporting. a drawer at a first level of the panel, other projections spaced from one another along a horizontal line and comprising a second discontinuous surface for supporting a drawer at another level of the panel and there are other projections comprising discontinuous surfaces at still other levels, and some of the projections of the different discontinuous surfaces are in line with corresponding projection at other levels to form discontinuous surfaces for supporting drawers at various levels when the panel is turned in the plane of said panel, the projections being shaped to present similar contact surfaces for the drawers in either position.

2. A furniture component comprising a plastic panel 'having a plane outside surface with -a plurality of depressions therein, said depressions constituting projections protruding from the inside surface of the panel and some of which are spaced from one another along a horizontal line and comprise a discontinuous surface for supporting -a drawer at a first level of the panel, other projections spaced from one another and comprising a second discontinuous surface for supporting a drawer at another level of the panel, different ones of the projections being of different shape in the plane of the panel, and some of the projections being in groups with similarly shaped projections and in designs which provide ornarnentation on the outside surface of the panel, while at the same time serving as supports for drawers on the inside surface of the panel, and in which different groups of projections have some of their projections spaced from one another on opposite sides of a Vertical line, and others of the projections are spaced from one another on opposite sides of a horizontal line, and some groups have their projections spaced from one another on opposite sides of the same Vertical and horizontal lines as other groups.

References Citetl in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 434,044 'Estey Aug. 12, 1890 469,542 Clapp Feb. 23, 1892 747,685 Coye Dec. 22, 1903 992,253 Richardson May 16, 1911 1,513,429 Schmitz Oct. 28, 1924 1,851,192 Lange Mar. 29, 1932 2,101,582 Hofi Dec. 7, 1937 2,168,172 Rees Aug. 1, 1939 2,219,439 Blomqvist Oct. 29, 1940 2,599,240 Ellerson June 3, 1952 2,696,419 Wallance Dec. 7, 1954 2,800,380 Baker July 23, 1957 

